More To The Story Of Liu Xiang’s Pullout?

The shock and disappointment of Liu Xiang’s withdrawal has still not dissipated. On Tuesday, CCTV released an interview with Liu in which he apologized for his withdrawal. Liu also released an open letter to his fans through the blog of the head coach of the national track and field team. You can read an English version of the letter here

I watched his withdrawal live and felt very bad for him. He looked to be in real pain. But after talking to some of my Beijinger friends over the last 24 hours, I am half-convinced the more is more to this story. All my friends believe this was set up by the track team and its affiliated management company that helps manage (and takes a cut of) the business side of their athletes’ lives.

The conspiratorial thinking goes that Liu and the team knew he was not in good enough form to beat Cuba’s Dayron Robles, and so it was better to not race than to lose. Both are humiliating, though an injury is more sympathetic and face-saving than a loss, and, importantly, might maintain some of Liu’s attractiveness to marketers. Part of the “evidence” is that the team held a news conference within 30 minutes of the withdrawal, making it looked like it was prepared in advance. (Before you attack me in the comments, please recognize that I am passing along a line of thinking that appears to be not uncommon in Beijing. I am not saying I believe it.)

The New York Times is reporting that “by Monday afternoon, China’s propaganda authorities had issued an order forbidding the country’s news media from criticizing Liu or probing into the details of his withdrawal.” I am not clear if this order also extends to blogs and BBS. And Ping An Insurance, which granted Liu a one-year, 100-million-yuan (U.S.$14.6 million) accidental injury insurance policy, appears to be refusing to pay out.

I doubt we will ever learn the real details of what happened to Liu. I’d like to think it was a simple, pure, sad decision based on an unfortunate injury. But my Beijinger friends are cynical for a reason: Taking things at face value here can frequently mean being taking for a sucker.

It is too bad Liu didn’t race, but he’ll be fine. He made over $20 million last year.